Mario Soares

Mario Soares (7 December 1924-7 January 2017) was Prime Minister of Portugal from 23 July 1976 to 28 August 1978 (succeeding Jose Pinheiro de Azevedo and preceding Alfredo Nobre da Costa) and from 9 June 1983 to 6 November 1985 (succeeding Francisco Pinto Balsemao and preceding Anibal Cavaco Silva. He also served as President of Portugal from 9 March 1986 to 9 March 1996 (succeeding Antonio Ramalho Eanes and preceding Jorge Sampaio). He was a member of the Socialist Party of Portugal.

Biography
Mario Soares was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1924, and he studied history, philosophy, and jurisprudence at the University of Lisbon. There, he became active in student politics in opposition to the fascist Estado Novo of Antonio de Oliveira Salazar. As a lawyer, he defended many people against the government, and in 1961 edited the "Programme for the Democratization of the Republic". He was briefly deported to the Portuguese colony of Sao Tome from 1968 to 1969, and, after he lost his campaign for a seat in the rigged 1969 elections, in which he was a leading critic of the government's policies, he left for France, where he resided until 1974. In 1973, in west Germany, he took part in the refounding of the Socialist Party of Portugal and became its general secretary. He returned to Portugal after the 1974 Carnation Revolution. His moderation and integrity had a crucial stabilizing effect on the fragile political system over the next decade. He became Foreign Secretary, then Minister without Portfolio, and in 1976-8 and 1983-5, he was Prime Minister. In that position, he promoted close relations with Spain (especially after the election of Felipe Gonzalez in 1982), and successfully sought entry into the European Community, which was finalized on 12 June 1985. He was elected President on 16 February 1986, and again on 13 January 1991, and was the first civilian to hold that office in six decades. He left office in 1996.